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Silvana Schenone

Partner
Auckland
Download Silvana's vCard

DDI:        +64 9 353 9986
Mobile:   +64 21 312 402
FAX:        +64 9 353 9701
Email:      

Silvana is a corporate and commercial lawyer experienced in advising clients, both in English and Spanish, on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and partnership arrangements, private equity investments, securities offerings. She has a unique expertise in Latin-American law.

Professional Qualifications

LLM Harvard University, 2006
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Hons - first in class)
Facultad de Derecho, 2000

Areas of expertise

Mergers and Acquisitions
Private Equity
Corporate and Commercial
Securities and Managed Investments
Latin American
Corporate Governance
International Trade

Silvana is a Partner in our corporate and commercial team experienced in advising local and foreign clients, both in English and Spanish, on a range of corporate matters. Silvana has extensive experience in M&A transactions, with broad international exposure. Silvana has acted for a number of clients on acquisitions, joint ventures and partnership arrangements, private equity investments, securities offerings and general corporate advisory work. She has a unique expertise in Latin-American practice.
 
Some of Silvana's major projects
  • Advising one of the shareholders of Flavoured Beverages Group Holdings Limited (holding company of the Independent Liquor Group) in the sale of 100% of the shares in Flavoured Beverages to the Asahi Group for a purchase price in the order of $1.5 billion
  • Advising the Kuwait Finance House in the sale of their interests in Woosh Wireless Limited in New Zealand
  • Advising Direct Capital in their acquisition of Scales Corporation from South Canterbury Finance Limited (in receivership) and Hornchurch Limited (in receivership)
  • Advising Agria Corporation and New Hope Group Co., Limited on Agria (Singapore) Pte Limited's NZ$141,000,000 partial takeover of PGG Wrightson Limited
  • Advising Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) on their acquisition of 100% of the shares in Mobile Commerce Ltd. 
  • Advising Union Agriculture Group in a proposed takeover offer for NZ Farming Systems Uruguay Limited
  • Advising Goldman Sachs JBWere as lead manager in relation to NZ Windfarms recent capital raising
  • Advising a 50% shareholder of Kiwi Ice Cream in its acquisition of the remaining 50% of the company and associated governance issues
  • Advising Multiserv in their agreement for the provision of mobile equipment and services to NZ Steel
  • Advising Anchorage in their internal restructure of the Burger King business in NZ
  • Advising Greymouth Petroleum with respect to their investments in Chile
  • Advising Sealord with respect to their investment in Argentina
  • Advising Most Excellent Holdings Ltd on the sale of Hubco Automotive Ltd
  • Advising Synlait Milk Limited in its capital raising project, involving the investment of $82 million by Bright Dairy
  • Advising Southern Cross in the transfer of its hospitals operation from Southern Cross Health Trust to a newly incorporated company
  • Advising Heinz Wattie's in its acquisition of the La Bonne Cuisine business
  • Advising a significant sovereign wealth fund in its acquisition of 50% of Great Northern Developments Limited from APEREF II Ltd
  • Acting for Pencarrow Private Equity in its acquisition of an industrial paper business
  • Advising the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in its acquisition of 19.9% of AMP Office Trust for $178m and 50% of the management company of AMP Office Trust
  • Representing the Republic of Chile in an international arbitration before ICSID, World Bank Group
  • Exchange and Tender Offer for the United Mexican States, issuing approximately US$2.3 billion aggregate principal amount of reopened sovereign notes, and the payment of approximately US$1.1 billion of cash (total value of the transaction US$3.3 billion)
  • Capital raising for CEMEX (Mexico) raising US$750 million in the U.S. and European markets in a hybrid offer of securities
  • Recapitalisation of Ixe Banco S.A (Mexico), through their first international capital markets issue (U.S. and European market), a US$120 million offering of hybrid securities
  • Issue of Debt and Equity in the U.S. market for Bancolombia. US$400 million notes offering, the bank's first SEC-registered debt offering, and US$321.6 million equity offering (its first SEC-registered equity offering since its IPO in 1995)
  • Multiple sovereign bond issuances for the Republics of Brazil and Panama, including issuances placed in the U.S., Europe and Asia for up to US$1.5 billion each one
  • Major capital raisings to finance local and cross border M&A transactions
  • Experience representing private investors in arbitrations before the ICC in corporate governance and commercial disputes
  • Part of the legal team working in selling the oil division of Unilever Chile
  • Legal advice in launching new Coca-Cola products in Chile
Memberships and directorships
 
Board Member, Latin America New Zealand Business Council (LANZBC)
Member, Chilean Bar Association
Overseas member, Australia Latin America Business Council
 
Seminars and publications
  • "Latin American the Next Asia" - Minter Ellison Rudd Watts presentation on the legal aspects of investments in Latin America (March 2010)
  • "The legal world in Chile, New York and New Zealand" NZLawyer, Issue 120 (September 2009)
  • "Corporate Ownership: A Realistic Perspective" Degree Thesis, Harvard University (2006)
  • "The due process and its articulation in the Chilean Tax Legislation in force. A perspective of Chilean and Comparative Law" Degree Thesis, PUC (2000)
Work history
 
Partner, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, New Zealand (2011 - present)
Senior Associate, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, New Zealand (2007 - 2011)
Visiting Lawyer, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York (2006 - 2007)
Associate Lawyer, Cariola Diez Pérez-Cotapos & Cίa. Ltda, Chile (2000 - 2005)
Secondment General Counsel, Coca-Cola Company in Chile (March - July 2005)
Secondment General Counsel, Unilever Chile (January 2005)




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